Improvement in self-adjusting platens for cotton and other presses



. attached to the follower or platen.

open end upward.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

JOSEPH C. COLT, OF NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR .TO DANIEL GOSS, OF OATSKILL,

IMPRQVEMENI IN SELF-ADJUSTING PLATENS FOR CTTON AND OTHER PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. L1,006. dated April 22,1845.

To all whom it may concern-z Be it known that l, J osEPH C. CoL'r, ofthe city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulMethod of Adjusting the Followers of Toggle-Joint and other Presses; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description.

The nature of my invention consists in attaching one ormore hydrauliccylinders to the platen or follower of the press, and providing themwith valves, so as to allow the plunger tov The drawings accompanyingthis, and towhich reference is made, are as follows:

No. 1 is a side elevation of Bullocks progressive power-press with myimprovement No. 2 represents asection of the cylinders. No. 3 shows thebottom of the upper cylinder or reservoir. No. 4 shows the cap of theupper cylinder. N o. 5 is a perspective view of the cylinder A, No. l.

I make a hydraulic cylinder, as shown at B, No. l, of asize suited tothe press,whichI screw onto the upper platen of the press, with the Ithen make another cylinder, A,which is fitted into B, and is packed atthe upper end of B, so as to serve as a ram or plunger, and also asareservoir, in the center of the bottom of which is a valve, C, as shownin No. 2, openingupward, and valve D in No. 3 opening down or outward.The cylinder A is bolted to the press-frame by rods or bolts, as in No.2. The stem of valve C passes up through the cap of cylinder A aconvenient 'distance to receive a lever, as shown in No. 1, letterG,which is attached at one end to the beam of the press passing over andresting on the valve C. To the other end I apply a spring, F. The weightis thrown upon this spring, and consequently upon the valve,by themovement of the wheels I-I I, No. l, through `the medium of a rodattached to the wheel I at ter or other liquid, then run down the lowerplaten or follower of the press to receive 4the bale of cotton. Now, asthe press is run up, the bale will press against the platen which isattached tothe cylinder B,which platen is not fixed in the press-frame,but allowed to slide freely up and down between the posts as the balemoves upward by working the press, which it will do as soon as theelastic force of the bale becomes greater than the gravity of theplaten, cylinder,water, &c., attached `to it,and will raise the cylinderB, which slides over the cylinder A, the water escaping through thevalve C into the cylinder A. Now, as the power of the press iscontinually augmenting in its use, I place the wheel H, Fig. l, in gearwith the pinion-wheel J on the main shaft of the press, letter J, Fig.l, which revolves in using the press. This gives an eccentric or crankmotion to the pin, on which one end of the rod K is attached. The otherend is fastened to the spring F, Fig. l, so as the pin moves downwardthe rod draws down upon the spring F, and, through the medium of thelever G, throws an increasing weight or load upon the valve O, and, asthe press moves on, the load on the valve is continually augmenting, andthe elastic force of the bale is continually increasing, by beingcompressed more and more dense. The press having arrived to its maximumpower, the motion of the machine is reversed, and as the bale leaves thefollower the weight of platen, cylinder, Snc., will cause it to slidedown to its former position, and the water that has been forced out ofthe cylinder B will flow back through the valve D when all is back tothe point of starting.

The hydraulic cylinders may be arrangediu various ways longitudinally aswell as vertical, so as to produce the same effect upon the follower orplaten of the press.

Having thus fully described my application ofthe self-adj usting platenand shown its operation, What I elainl therein as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

The application of the hydraulic cylinders to the platen of toggle-jointand other progressive power-presses, Whether it be by applying thecylinders direct to the platen or through the medium of serews orWedges, racks and pinions, or other analogous devices, so that throughthe niediun of the spring and gearing .attached to the press anincreasing Weight is thrown upon the valve7 so as to produce the desiredeffect upon the platen, the Whole being combined and operating in themanner herein set forth.

JOSEPH C. COLT. [L s.]

lVitnesses:

SAML. H. GREEN, GEO. STARR.

